Just wondering, me and siu blue wind were talking about this. Do people get they handle bars cut down when they buy a new bike? I didn't know people did that. But now that I think about it, I guess for people who don't have broad shoulders it would improve handling.

not necessarily. it is preference mostly. i guess tight trails might call for narrow bars to avoid trees etc...

i am a pretty small guy, however i buy wide bars. in fact, it is one of the main determinants of which brand i buy. i have found some wide fsa dh bars. i think nearly 28". my shoulders are far from broad. so don't feel like that has to dictate bar width...do what you like

I'm broad shouldered and find the 64 cm wide riser bars on my rockhopper to be perfect. For a while I had Nashbar trekking bars on the bike (during the semester when I didn't have time to hit the trails and was only riding on the road) which are 55 cm wide and they felt fine too, but I much prefer a wider handlebar.

i cut my bmx bars a while ago because it made that bike handle how i like. as for my mountain bike, when i by new bars they're gonna stay wide for trials, unless i have a trials rig by then. then i dont know how wide ill leave them.